Stephen A. Balke
General Grand Recorder, Cryptic Masons International

Stephen A. Balke
General Grand Recorder, Cryptic Masons International

 

Greetings, Companions, and HAPPY CRYPTIC NEW YEAR!

For those that do not know, Cryptic Masons International operates from August 1 through July 31. Our office is hopping to accomplish both End of Year activities and prepare for the Triennial Assembly. Below please find as concise as can be the highlights and pertinent information on the Triennial and progress in preparations. A copy of this may also be found on the \”ABOUT\” tab of the https://triennial.org website, and is planned to be split into the various information points as we near the date.

The 47th Triennial Assembly of the General Grand Council

The Trustees have modified our meeting twice in order to mitigate circumstances beyond our control, preserve the rights of our voting membership, and avoid inviting people to a meeting that may place them at risk during the Covid crisis and rising social unrest.  

• On July 1, 2020, a decision to run all voting through electronic media and make the meeting available through the Zoom digital medium was published and announced.
• On July 9, 2020, a decision that there will be no in-person meeting was made. Included was a move of the meeting to September 26, 2020 to make the meeting more available to those still working.

Our Triennial Assembly will take place on Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 12:00 PM MDT (7:00 PM UTC). Further information was to be announced earlier than today, but there have been a great many moving parts to align in preparation.

Registration and Information

Please register at https://triennial.org. Information will also be posted at this website as it rolls out. We are working diligently to provide it as quickly as possible, as well as through as many media as possible.

• Yes, registration has been separated from the General Grand Chapter.
• $10 US to register? Your registration, less the processing fee, will be donated in your name to CMMRF.

Voting at the Triennial

The general rules regarding delegates are still in place:

• The Grand Council or Subordinate Council must be current with both an annual return and their per capita.
• A member may only represent ONE organization.
• Any proxy or declaration of representation MUST be accompanied by documentation received by the General Grand Recorder.

A decision by the Trustees, to accommodate the electronic medium and facilitate the voting is: ONE MAN ONE VOTE.

• The only real effect is that proxies must be given to someone who is not currently a voting member in their own right, and a proxy may only represent one vote.
• It should also be recognized that each delegate should connect to the meeting separately. Each connection will represent ONE VOTE ONLY.

Delegates

The following are the authorized delegates.

• Most Illustrious Past Grand Masters that are current members and served while a jurisdiction was an Affiliated Grand Council.
• Dais Officers (Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master and Principal Conductor of the Work) from an Affiliated Grand Council in Good Standing. These positions are the only positions which allow a proxy.
• The designated Companion of a Subordinate Council in Good Standing (only ONE per Council).
• General Grand Officers

Elections

We will have two elections done by electronic ballot during the meeting. One will be for General Grand Officers, one for CMMRF Board Members At Large.

• No Nominations will be accepted from the floor.
• There will be no write-in ballots.
• Candidates for General Grand Offices MUST Declare by September 1, 2020.
• Declarations of Candidacy are for the offices of General Grand Master, Deputy General Grand Master, General Grand Principal Conductor of the Work, General Grand Treasurer, or General Grand Recorder.
• Candidates for the At Large CMMRF Board positions are set, the last day to declare was July 15, 2020.
• Candidates should present a letter of declaration, any nominations, a picture (separate file), and a brief bio-sketch to the General Grand Recorder’s office.
• Candidate profiles are going to roll out on the triennial.org website, and will be highlighted in the Decryption over the coming two months.

Legislation

Only Emergent Legislation will be presented for consideration by the body. The Jurisprudence Committee is reviewing planned legislation and determining if there is a need for the presentation and all that are determined emergent will be posted for review as they are released by this committee.

Translations

We currently have many Companions working from around the world to ensure that the information regarding Triennial will be intelligible by our voting delegates. Consensus has brought about the following:

• Documents (our Constitution and Bylaws and Emergent Legislation) will be translated specifically by committees of Companions who are fluent in the languages.
• The languages being targeted (we are working on some of these committees now) include: Cypriot Greek, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish.
• All other information will be available on the website, which is already translated using Google Translate into over 40 languages. (Please see the upper right-hand corner of the website for a dropdown.)
• Online translation during the Zoom meeting is being investigated but may require more resources than we currently have – especially volunteers to do the translations.

Closing

Many Companions have come together to assist with the “Credentials” Committee. I put that in quotation because in reality, it is an ad hoc Triennial Committee with A LOT of work – which they are doing in support of bringing this together – many in spite of competing priorities in their jurisdiction, dealing with vocational and familial issues during a pandemic, and all of them working in a fluid environment to adapt to our circumstances and keep our organization working and our Craft moving forward.

COMPANIONS, THANK YOU ALL!